The Six
by CowHuntr88
Summary: New Chapter Added! The three travelers finally arrive at the chocobo ranch, but what happens when a deranged owner recognizes the thief?
1. The Crystal Ball

Disclaimer: Waah, I don't own anything in this story except the characters and their personalities. Anything and everything that relate directly to the Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced game belong to Square. This story is not being made for profit but for mere entertainment and nothing else.  
  
Author's Notes: Well, this is my very first story on this site. Hopefully it won't be extremely sucky. This story is about a group of friends that gets transported to Ivalice and tries to find their way back home. This takes place after Marche's story and may contain spoilers for the game so beware. My story will have its own little twists to it though, and it won't be exactly like FFTA (meaning Humans doing jobs that only Viera can have and such). Anyways, here goes. Wish me luck ^__^;;  
  
The Crystal Ball  
  
"Are you sure this is the one?" A Nu Mou donned in old tattered clothing bearing ancient symbols looked into his crystal ball; the only source of light in the room, save the outrageous lightning storm outside.  
"Yess my lord," replied a husky Bangaa, as he bowed down to the Nu Mou. "Shall we continue with the operation?"  
"In a bit," replied the Nu Mou in a monotone voice, "I'd like to take these five along with the boy. They intrigue me somehow." The Nu Mou pointed at the large crystal ball, showing an image of a boy with five of his other friends playing a game of Chinese checkers.  
"B-b-but s-sir," stuttered a scrawny Moogle, "Master Sartes s-s- said..." began the Moogle.  
"I care not," was the Nu Mou's reply. Although he had only spoken in a soft voice, it was enough to make the Bangaa and the Moogle wince.  
"Kupo..." squeaked the Moogle to himself.  
"These six... yes, they can help me. Tibo. Baid. Begin the operation," ordered the Nu Mou.  
"Yess ssir," the Bangaa hissed. Immediately, the Bangaa padded out of the room and the Moogle flew out a window.  
"I'll see to it that these six fulfill my wish. Mark my words Sartes," whispered the Nu Mou as he stared into his crystal ball, looking at the six humans with a hungry look in his eyes. Thunder boomed and lightning lit up the room for a brief second, revealing the Nu Mou's numerous tattoos on his wrinkled face. And with that, the crystal ball dimmed, leaving the Nu Mou in the darkness. 


	2. Six Different People

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing directly related to the game FFTA because that belongs to Square.  
  
Author's Notes: Ok, well, the last chapter sucked. This chapter is basically used to introduce characters. I would add more, but I don't want to make this SUPER long and super boring by making a single chapter really long and another really short. Also, I'm gonna add more and I'll double space this time because I forgot to in the last chapter . So here goes!  
  
Six Different People  
  
"One... two... three... four jumps! I win again!" cried Leo with glee. Leo had dark black hair and dark brown eyes. He sat in his room grinning to himself while his other friends sat around rolling their eyes at him or eating junk food. Leo was probably the only one in his room that was still a kid at heart. Everyone was so worked up in school and always stressing out, Leo figured that a fun game of Chinese checkers could help calm them down while they all spent the weekend at his uncle's cabin.  
"You're such a dork," said Mike. Mike was about average height and had dark brown hair. He was the star of the track team at their school, and had met up with Leo through a tutoring advertisement since Mike had needed help keeping his Biology grade up to stay on the team. "That's the seventh game of Chinese checkers you've won in a row. And who plays that many games of Chinese checker anyway?"  
"Well, you could use the thinking skills," said Mikey. Mikey and Mike were the best of buds and knew each other since the first grade. Whenever Mike lacked in brawn, Mikey made up with his smarts. The two were a dynamic pair, and even though Mikey wasn't much of an athlete, Mike inspired him to take up paint balling. "Honestly, it's not Leo's fault you suck at the game."  
"You're only saying that because you came in second!" retorted Mike as he threw a fistful of popcorn at Mikey.  
"Well, it's true. There isn't a nice way to say 'You suck' you know," said Nick, joining in the childish argument. Nick was a close friend of Leo's. They met during competition band, and fate made them the best of buds when Nick had accidentally shot Leo with a stray arrow while he was at archery practice. Immediately after that, Nick rushed Leo to the hospital, and Nick hasn't left Leo's side since. They were kind of like side-kicks, only none of them was the main super hero.  
"Hey, two against one isn't fair!" chimed in Tom. Tom was a little on the short side, but his appearance was the complete opposite of his strength. Tom was, in a word, built. Tom was on the gymnastics team, the football team, and the baseball team at our school, and was deemed "the jock". He had met up with Leo when Leo took his little sister out to gymnastics practice, and Tom had caught her from falling off a very high balance beam.  
"Gaah!" screamed Mike. Leo stopped cheering for himself and began to burst out laughing when he saw that his friends had started on a major pillow fight, with feathers flying all over the place. What Leo thought was a two on two match turned out to be an all out melee. Of course, Tom came out on top after knocking the other three across the room and tearing open half the feather pillows in the process. Leo couldn't help but laugh louder.  
"Leo, you laugh too much," said Luke from the corner. Luke was the loner of the group. He was always brooding over some dark thought by himself in the corner, and how or why he stuck around with these five, nobody could explain. One day, Leo just walked up to him and asked him to sit with him and his friends at the lunch table because he was sick and tired of seeing Luke by himself.  
"No way, there's no such thing as laughing too much!" said Leo. The strange thing about Leo was that he was so different. Everyone in the cabin was sixteen years old, and usually teens at that age were temperamental and had mood swings and were sometimes rarely happy. But not Leo. This boy was always smiling, always laughing, always willing to help other people out, The flaw with this child was that he trusted people too easily.  
"You can never laugh too much! Laughter is the medicine of life ya know! And did you know that angry kids are more prone to obesity? You don't want to be a fat lump do you?" Leo rambled on and on and then suddenly, the lights went out and came back on in a flash. Everybody had vanished. In the background, the toilet flushed and Leo's uncle came out of the bathroom.  
"Hmm, durn kids and their games," muttered Leo's uncle, as he scratched his left butt cheek and slowly walked off to bed, thinking nothing of the disappearance. 


	3. And So It Begins

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing directly related to FFTA *bows down to Square* I'm not worthy! Lol  
  
Author's Notes: Ok, well, the last two chapters sucked, but if your still reading you must be really bored, or you think my story kicks butt ^___^;; heh, not. So yeah, The double spacing still didn't work, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. If someone could be so kind as to e-mail me at CowHuntr88@aol.com and help me out, I'd be really grateful. Just be sure to label the e-mail as "Double Spacing FF".  
  
::indicates thoughts going through character's mind::  
  
And So It Begins  
  
Leo awoke in a bed with white sheets. He squinted his eyes as bright sunlight poured through the stained glass window depicting a soldier standing on top of a dead Firewyrm, holding up a shining sword in victory with the races of Ivalice bowing down at his feet. Leo rubbed his head and winced in pain as he rubbed on a bruise.  
::Man, I've got such a headache. And where is that organ music coming from? Where am I?:: Immediately, Leo jumped out of his bed to leave and, as if on acue, the door to his small room opened and an old Nu Mou walked in.  
"Oh, thank heavens your awake child. Your going to miss your test!" cried the old Nu Mou woman.  
"Test? Sorry lady, I think you have the wrong..." started Leo.  
"Now now, there's no time to dawdle about. Put these on and grab your staff and hurry on down to the testing center. Headmaster Roba won't be pleased on bit to see his star pupil late for his exam. Ah, it's such a blessing to see you become a full fledged white mage," the Nu Mou nurse said with a small tear in her eye.  
"Testing center? Wait, where am I?" asked Leo, but it was too late. The Nu Mou nun had left as soon as she entered.  
::Ok, so I'm in a church, full of ancient looking mice people that can speak English... white mage? Staff? Test? What was that old bat talking about? And no way am I putting this on! It looks like a dress!:: Leo began to look around the drawers in his room but had no such luck in finding other options for clothing, and was forced to change into the white garment since his current clothes were too smelly and dirty. As Leo left the room, he grabbed a wooden stick he hoped was his staff, and began to walk down the hall lined with numerous old doors.  
Luck still proved to be against him as he knocked on many doors and received no response, until a young Nu Mou crashed into him.  
"Owww! Eep! Sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean it, I..." started the Nu Mou girl. When she saw who it was, she relaxed a bit more. "Oh, Leo, it's just you. What are you doing here? You of all people, late for the test?"  
"What are you talking about? And who are you?" questioned Leo. He tried to be as polite as he could, but his pounding headache was getting worse with the organ music playing in the background.  
"Oh, silly Leo, up to his little games again," giggled the Nu Mou. However, all she got in return was a confused stare. "Oh, all right, I'll play along. My name is May."  
"Hello May, it's nice to meet you. I'm Leo" he said while extending his hand in a welcoming gesture.  
"Hee hee, silly Leo, I already know who you are! But we're already late, let's hurry up or we'll miss the test!" said May in an anxious voice as she sped off down the corridor.  
"Wait up!" called Leo, running after May, "Where am I? And what test?"  
"*sigh* Leo, I don't get you sometimes. But I'm in a good mood, so why not?" said May in a cheery voice.  
"You're in St. Foobar's academy for white mages. Remember yet?" asked May. Leo shook his head.  
"Wow, I must have crashed into you pretty hard to make you forget that much! Well, a white mage is a person that is able to use defensive magic, you know, curing and stuff like that. We started studying magic when we were five remember? I found you out on the street unconscious in the rain three months into my studies, and I tried performing a Cura spell on you, but it did more harm than good. Thankfully, Sister Nito was nearby and helped you in from the rain and nursed you back to health. There was a major uproar though! The Nu Mou population wanted to kick you out, since St. Foobar is a school for Nu Mou only. Humans aren't really that good at magic you know. Headmaster Roba wasn't very keen on keeping you around either, but he got this strange feeling that you'd be able to help Ivalice somehow. Ever since Sartes came to power, judges haven't been doing well, lately. Clan wars are getting out of hand, and even with the heir of Judgemaster Cid in power of the law, Ivalice has gone entirely corrupt. Oh, hey, we're at the testing center already!" May paused for a second, as if recollecting herself.  
"Ok Leo, remember, don't be nervous at all! Just be confident, and just remember eleven years of studies and you'll be great," exclaimed May. She gave him a quick hug and walked into the testing center.  
::Eleven years of studies... great... how am I supposed to know that much when I don't even know what the heck is going on around here:: Leo's head was swimming with information, and he felt as if he could have barfed right there with all the anxiousness in his stomach and the pounding headache since the organ music had gotten very loud as he stood in front of the door to the testing center.  
::Well, here goes nothing:: Leo pushed open the big oak door, and immediately the organ stopped playing and every Nu Mou in the room turned their heads to look at Leo. He could not have felt more out of place.  
"Ah, here he is at last. Leo, please follow me, we'll begin your testing personally in my office," said a very old Nu Mou. This one looked as if he could drop dead at any given moment. A wave of whispers filled the room. Still, Leo followed the ancient Nu Mou into his office.  
"I can imagine your confusion," began the Nu Mou as he closed the door with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure you don't remember anything?" Leo shook his head once again.  
"Ah, well, I can help with that," stated the Nu Mou in a soft voice. The Nu Mou placed his wrinkled hands on Leo's head, and began muttering some ancient spell. Leo was just confused. He sat there for about fifteen minutes with nothing happening. He was beginning to think this was all a joke, but in an instant, Leo remembered everything. He remembered playing Chinese checkers with his friends in his uncle's cabin. He remembered watching the outrageous pillow fight. He remembered the lights going out. Then there were things he didn't remember. He saw himself running in the woods in the middle of a storm. He saw a lizard type creature, clad in golden and black armor chasing after him with a spear. He saw himself sitting at a desk with a big old book in front of him. He saw himself holding his wooden staff, muttering some incantation to bid a small withering flower back to life. He remembered everything he had ever studied for this day.  
"It is done. I'm sure you'll be most satisfied to be back with your memory," said the Nu Mou calmly. "Oh, and one more thing," stated the Nu Mou. The Nu Mou waved his right hand in front of Leo's eyes and whispered "Esuna". In an instant, Leo's headache was relieved.  
"I'm still kind of lost... why me? Why didn't you throw me out? Isn't this a..." Leo struggled to find the word.  
"Nu Mou?" the old Nu Mou suggested.  
"Yeah! Isn't this a Nu Mou only institute? I thought humans like me weren't any good at magic," Leo said in a confused voice.  
"Well, that is the stereotype. Very rare humans are in Ivalice. Why, I haven't seen one since I was about your age as a matter of fact. But that is beside the point. I kept you around because you proved to be an excellent magic adept. You can also help us wage war against Sartes, and bring harmony back into Ivalice," explained the Nu Mou. "I am Headmaster Roba," added the Nu Mou as an after thought.  
"I'm not sure if I'm ready yet. You know, to be a white mage. May told me that we help people, curing them and such," said Leo. He was looking for any excuse not to be kicked out of the only place he knew.  
"Well, this is what the test is for. It is quite simple really. All you have to do," said Roba, "Is fix this." Headmaster Roba pulled out an ugly orange plant from behind his desk. Apparently, the plant had eaten too much since it looked like it was on the verge of exploding.  
::Oh man, how am I gonna do this? I can remember reading something about curing spells, but I just don't know how to do it:: Leo slowly moved his hands to the plant and concentrated hard on it. He felt sorry for the plant though. Somehow he knew that if the swelling plant exploded, it would die and it wouldn't be able to have a happy life anymore. Leo began to feel something inside, him, and in an instant, a small blue aura glowed around his hands and connected with the orange plant, reducing the swelling.  
"Ah, the Curaga spell. This just proves to me that you are more than ready to graduate from this institute. Some of the nun's here can't perform a Curaga spell like this one," chuckled Roba, as he tucked the smiling and gurgling plant away. Now listen. I normally don't do this with just any student, but I would like you to take this Gil.  
::Gil? What's a gil?:: Roba handed a pouch over to Leo, and poured a couple of gold coins into Leo's hand.  
::Ok, I think I'm getting the hang of this. Gil is money. White mages are like doctors. Sartes is a bad guy. But where am I supposed to go?::  
"Well, I was hoping I could answer that question for you," stated the Nu Mou. Apparently, this one had the ability to read minds as well. "Right now, you are in the town of Cadoan. I would advise that you buy a new staff and some clothes at the shop, since I can tell you don't like the garments we provide (at this comment, Leo blushed and looked down at the floor). After that, I would highly suggest that you visit the jail here in Cadoan. Normally, there was only one jail in Sprohm, but since the criminal rate has increased, every town has had to build a jail. So please, do not forget to visit the jail, and when you find someone that may aid you on your journey, offer this to the guards to pay for bail." Leo nodded his head to signal that he understood every word, and the headmaster gave Leo a necklace with a silver snake charm at the end.  
About an hour later, Leo had gone out and found it very easy to navigate his way around Cadoan. Evidentally, Cadoan was a very Nu Mou populated area. His first stop was at the store, to buy clothes and a new staff. This too was a very simple task, but unfortunately, Leo found that he did not have much Gil left after buying the best of the best: a Dream Watcher Staff and Light Robe.  
::Wow, I look good:: thought Leo. The robe he had picked was a shimmering white, lined with gold trimmings. Everything he wore was white: his robe, his pants, his shirt, his boots, even his bracers. ::Just what a white mage should look like:: Leo though, as he grinned to himself in the mirror. As he left the shop, he heard screaming.  
"Unhand me now you stupid lizard! I didn't do anything wrong! I stole nothing!"  
::I know that voice:: Leo began to rush towards the commotion, and found a thief being held by two very big lizards. The thief looked very familiar to Leo. He was wearing an old black bandana, with a tight black shirt and dirty brown pants and boots. His gloves had the finger tips cut off, and were also black, with crossbones on each hand. The thief also had a belt with two knives tucked in safely, and as the thief struggled, Leo noticed that the thief was also hiding another knife in his left boot. However, Leo was snapped back into reality, as the thief escaped the grasps of the two lizard guards.  
"Ha ha, you stupid Bangaa can't catch me now!" teased the thief. Ironically enough, the thief tripped over his own feet and was sent sprawling onto the ground face first and landed in front of Leo. The Bangaa guards chuckled to themselves.  
"Sstupid boy. You'll get double the prisson time for trying to defy the law, and we'll get double pay when the warden hearss we've caught the famouss Mike. Who'd have thought that you would fall sso simply into our handss after easily running from uss every time we've come sso closse to catching you," said the surely Bangaa guard.  
::Wait a minute:: Leo thought to himself ::Mike... running... I know him!:: The Bangaa guard roughly picked the thief up and spit in his face.  
"You shall not lay a hand on him!" shouted Leo. The Nu Mou crowd gasped and turned to look at the human white mage. "I wish to pay for this thief's bail!" The thief looked confused.  
"A white mage human? Humanss can't do magic," hissed the Bangaa guard. "And bessides, this thief's bail iss more than you can afford!"  
"Not even if I offer you this?" question the white mage. Leo pulled the necklace out of his pocket and the silver snake glimmered in the sunlight. The Bangaa guard's eyes widened.  
"Where did you get that?" the Bangaa guard asked, throwing the thief down. He could have run away, but he too was intrigued by the treasure that the white mage held up.  
"That is none of your business lizard," said Leo in a defying voice. ::Wow. Where'd this new confidence come from??:: "Do we have a deal?" The Bangaa contemplated the pros and cons of the offer, and finally agreed to the mage's terms. The guard snatched the necklace away, and threw the thief at the mage's feet.  
"Are you alright?" asked Leo. He helped the thief up, and tried to look into the thief's eyes to see if it really was Mike.  
"I can't believe you just went and did that," the thief said, dusting himself off. Unfortunately, this only made the thief dirtier, so he ceased his attempts to clean himself. "Well, whatever. My name is Mike, at your service." The thief made a dramatically low bow, as if to imitate the proper ways of introduction.  
"Tell me mage," the thief said as he pulled out a knife from his belt, "Why did you go and waste such a fine treasure on a criminal like me? How do you know I won't kill you?" With that last sentence, the thief pulled the knife dangerously close to Leo's neck.  
"Well, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions," whispered the mage. Evidently, this wasn't the Mike he knew. But still, he couldn't help but hope...  
"Questions? Is that all?" the thief roared with laughter, and pocketed his knife. "Well, fire away. This thief tells no lies."  
"Well... I don't know how to phrase this... but do I look familiar to you?" Leo looked hopefully at the thief's dirty face, hoping that Mike would realize him.  
::What is this kid up to?? How does he know that I think he looks familiar...:: thought the thief to himself. "Nope, sorry kid, I can't say I've seen you around before. This thief works alone. Leo couldn't help but be disappointed.  
"But hey! We can start a clan! You know, I hear clan wars are getting out of hand. Lots of opportunities to steal stuff! Plus there's exciting adventures and all that nonsense. What do you say? I won't take no for an answer. You did save my life after all," suggested the thief.  
"Sure... why not?" said Leo. ::Maybe this guy won't be so bad after all:: Leo thought. 


	4. The Chocobo Rancher

Disclaimer: Wah, I don't own anything directly related to Square. Yeah, everything in this story is theirs basically ( And I am in noy way affiliated with Square. Yeah.  
  
Author's Notes: Sorry about not updating forever. So many things are happening at my school, too much homework, too many exams, concerts, friends, blah. But it's Spring Break now! I'm sure I'll have more time to update. So yeah, this chapter has even more characters! Woo!  
  
::Indicates character's thoughts::  
  
Leo and Mike walked off into the woods to set up camp. The innkeeper refused to provide room and board to anyone associated with the thief. This wasn't a big deal for either of the two however. Leo was excited about finally being off on an adventure, and relieved that he had someone he could trust in the completely strange world. Mike was just glad to finally be free from the smelly Bangaa guards.  
"So how do we start a clan exactly?" question Leo.  
"Well, it won't be that simple," said Mike, as he led the way through the Materiwood, "As I said before, clan wars are getting extremely out of hand. People aren't as worried as breaking engagement laws, and with corrupt judges running about giving away law immunities, the government's power is becoming stagnant. As a result, Judgemaster Cid's heir has put a restriction on most pubs that give out clan licenses. Until they flush out all the corrupt judges, clans won't be able to take on assignments."  
"Hm, well, that makes sense. But how are we going to start a clan?" asked Leo.  
"Illegally of course," replied Mike with a grin.  
"You've got to be kidding me," stated the mage. ::I guess I should've expected this from a thief::  
"Well, how else are we going to help?" asked the thief.  
"Help?"  
"Yeah! Since clans can't take missions, not only does the government have to track down corrupted judges, but they've also got to keep Ivalice safe. It's got to be a tough job." Mike then found a perfect clearing in the forest. "Alright, we're gonna set up camp here if that's ok with you."  
"No problem, it's getting dark though, so hand me your knife," said Leo. "I have to make a fire."  
"A fire? But you're only a white mage I thought," said Mike, as he handed the knife to Leo. Leo angled the knife over a small dead bush, and with a small twirl of his middle and index finger, a light shot out from the sky, hit the shiny knife, and hit the dead bush, setting it on fire.  
"Amazing!" said Mike, as he took the knife back from Leo and pocketed it.  
"Nothing special. Just a little something I picked up when I was little," said Leo, grinning to himself. A few hours later, Leo and Mike were settled comfortably around the fire, snacking on apples they got from nearby trees. Then out of nowhere, an arrow went whizzing through the air, flying through the apple Mike was about to eat and knocking the apple out from his hand.  
"Trespassers," a voice bellowed from the trees.  
"Who's there?" asked Mike, jumping up and brandishing a knife from his belt. Leo calmly stood up and gripped his staff tightly, bracing himself for another encounter.  
::I hope it's not another one of those Bangaa guards:: hoped Leo.  
"You're trespassing on private property you know," the voice continued to say.  
"How can we be trespassing? Nobody owns any part of the Materiwood!" argued Mike.  
"Wait, Mike, shh..." whispered Leo. Leo stared out into the woods, and turned his head, following the noise of rustling branches in the trees. Leo turned his back to the rustling noise, and pointed his staff at the trees. "Slow." A powerful force blasted through the air, and knocked someone out from the trees.  
"Ouch!" said a hunter, falling off his chocobo. "What was that for?!"  
"Well, that was for knocking my meal out of my hand!" said Mike, in an enraged voice.  
"We want to know how we are trespassing sir," said Leo in a polite voice. The hunter got up and dusted himself off. He was wearing brown pants and a long sleeved grey shirt with a brown leather vest. His boots were untied, and his brown hair was messy. His bracers helped to cover his calloused hands, and a quiver of arrows strapped to his side and a great bow decorated with red dragons on a black background held in his left hand.  
  
"I use this place to help train my master's chocobo. He runs a pub, and his son is a master archer, so in payment for training his chocobos, I get archery lessons," replied the hunter.  
"Well, it doesn't matter, this area still doesn't belong to you, so we're not trespassing in any way," replied Mike in a frustrated tone.  
"Doesn't matter thief. But still, you shouldn't camp out here. There are Lamias out here that try to eat our chocobos. And by the looks of it, you wouldn't be able to handle a runt. Just follow me back to my master's ranch, and you can spend the night there. By the way, my name is Nick."  
::Wait... Nick??:: thought Leo excitedly.  
::Ugh, snobbish hunter, thinks he knows everything:: thought Mike with fury. With that, he raised his knife and threw it at Nick.  
"Mike! No!!" cried Leo. But Nick instantly turned around, strung an arrow, and shot it at the knife mid-air, knocking it off course back at Mike, where the knife landed at his feet, the sharp point stabbing the dirt.  
"If you still want a place to sleep, I suggest you not try to kill me thief," said Nick in a cool voice. And with that Nick walked off, with Leo following and Mike grudgingly dragging his feet along, mumbling to himself about a certain stupid hunter just being lucky. 


	5. A Morpher's Soul

Disclaimer: This story is in no way affiliated with Square. All characters, objects, and anything else directly related to Final Fantasy belongs to Square.  
  
Author's Notes: Woo, another chapter. I'm going to try to make chapters longer, 'cause they seem kind of short to me (if any of you guys have input on this, feel free to e-mail me at CowHuntr88@aol.com). Anyways, this chapter will be interesting, or at least I hope. Just as a note, I'm going to totally mix things up for the sake of progression in the story. I know there are a lot of die hard Final Fantasy fans out there that'll be like "Viera can't morph!!!" or "There isn't any Nul_____ Spell in Finals Fantasy Tactics Advanced!!!". But if I stay TOTALLY true to the game, my story'll be lamer than it already is. So I hope you guys understand!  
  
Within a couple of minutes, the three travelers had reached Nick's chocobo ranch located on a farmland near the edge of Cyril. By this time, it was dark, but the torches provided enough light at the ranch. As Nick unlocked the gate, he pulled his chocobo into the stable, and closed the door.  
"All right, follow me. I have to tell my master that we've got guests and that you'll be spending the night," said Nick in a whispered voice.  
"You can take you're room and shove it hunter," grunted Mike.  
"Well, nobody is asking you to stay here," said Nick in a stern whisper. "Go ahead and sleep out here. It's not my fault if you get bitten by a Lamia."  
"Come on Mike, just spend the night. It's cold out here, and you'll catch a cold," said Leo.  
"But I thought you were a white mage! Can't you just zap away any sickness?" cried Mike. But Leo and Nick were already headed into the main house, so Mike just gave up and followed.  
When they entered, a chill went through all three of their bodies. The house was dark, save the dimly lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The room was overly large, with dust covering every inch, and old statues of fiends casting their shadows along the wall along with old paintings.  
"I'll never get used to this place," muttered Nick. Leo and Mike could only nod. The three waited for a couple seconds, and out of thin air, an old Viera man appeared out of thin air. As old as the Viera man was, he was wearing very rich clothing, and had silvery white hair tied back into a neat long pony tail. However, this was the only young thing on the Viera. The man's face was wrinkled and tan and his ears were dropping, with what seemed to be chunks of skin missing. His eyes also seemed to be empty and lifeless.  
"Nick, who are these people," said the Viera man in a barely audible whisper.  
"These two were trespassing in the Materiwood, and they don't have a place to stay for the night," explained Nick.  
"Now hold on just a minute! We weren't trespassing at all!" screamed Mike. The Viera turned to Mike.  
"Hm. Where have I seen your face before?" inquired the Viera. Leo quickly stepped in front of Mike to hide his face to protect his identity and their only chance at having a bed to sleep in for the night.  
"Please sir, all we need is a place to stay. We'll even pay for the night," said Leo in a reasoning voice.  
"That boy behind you.... He is a thief is he not?" said the Viera, as if he had not heard Leo. Mike pushed Leo aside.  
"You're darn right I'm a thief! And I would steal back that soul if I could old man!" cried Mike.  
"Mike, what the heck is your problem?!" asked Leo. "Nick hasn't done anything wrong, and all you're doing is acting like a jerk!"  
"Just stay out of this Leo. This man and I have a score to settle," said Mike, preparing a battle stance.  
"Ah, so you are the boy," whispered the Viera. With this, the Viera's eyes became lively with hunger, while Leo and Nick just stood there, utterly bewildered. The Viera then took out a small squishy yellow sphere.  
  
"Meet my son," whispered the Viera. He tossed the sphere up in the air, and when it landed, it poofed into a Cream.  
"Your son?!" said Nick in a shocked tone. "What have you done with him?"  
"My son is nothing but an illusion. I used him to train you with the bow, so that you could capture fiends for me, and after many years, I have finally extracted enough souls to rule Ivalice," said the Viera. "Cream. Fetch that thief." The Cream made a weird battle cry, and scooted towards Mike at an incredibly fast speed.  
"Mike, jump!" cried Leo, as he pointed his staff in the air. Mike jumped up in time to avoid a lick from the Cream, and Leo zapped a spell onto Mike.  
"What the heck is this?" said Mike.  
"It's a NulShock spell. It'll protect you from any nasty shock that thing can give you," said Leo.  
"It's called a Cream," said Nick. "Hey, thief, duck down!"  
"I refuse to listen to you hunter!" stated Mike, but Leo pushed Mike out of the way. Nick strung an arrow at shot it directly at the Cream, piercing it between the eyes. The Cream let out a shriek, and melted into the cracks in the floorboard.  
"Well done," whispered the Viera. The hungry look in his eyes got creepier, and the Viera threw another sphere into the air, this time it was a dark brown sphere that looked like it had been a chunk taken out of a tree. This time, it was a Jawbreaker that poofed from the sphere.  
"Ugh, not another one!" said Leo desperately. "How many things did you hunt for him?"  
"Well, let's see, I've been hunting for about twelve years, so I would have to say... a lot," said Nick, as he took aim at the Jawbreaker crawling up the wall and taking refuge on top of the chandelier. Nick let the arrow loose, but the Jawbreaker caught it between it's pincers and crushed the arrow.  
"My turn hunter," said the thief. Mike threw one of his daggers boomerang style up at the old rope barely holding onto the chandelier. The knife barely sliced the rope, and Mike swiftly caught his returning dagger. Nick exclaimed "Ha! Missed!" but Mike grinned and chuckled tot himself. The rope snapped and the chandelier came crashing down, and when it reached the impact of the floor, the chandelier burst into flames along with the Jawbreaker.  
"Let's see how you work with this," whispered the Viera, now with a maniacal grin on his face. He threw two spheres this time, a sticky green sphere and a sphere that looked like an eyeball. A Malboro and an Ahriman poofed this time, and the dusty room shook with the cries of wild animals.  
"Ugh, great, more monsters," said Nick.  
"Hey, this is your entire fault," said Mike. "If you hadn't just handed all these souls over to Imation..."  
"You guys, let's focus on the battle!!!" cried Leo. Leo charged up to the center of the room and pointed his staff towards the ceiling. "Holy!" Immediately, a bright light lit up the room, and two white spheres or holy magic went flying at the Malboro and Ahriman. When they got close enough, the exploded and blinded the two creatures. "Dang, it didn't work!"  
"Hey mage, get down," said Nick, as he strung an arrow and fired it directly at the Ahriman, but missed. The Ahriman, now angry, flew towards Nick at zapped him with a bolt of electricity from its one eye.  
"Gaaah! Can't move!!!" screamed Nick. Leo pointed his staff at Nick.  
"Esuna," Leo whispered. An aura of white light surrounded Nick, and he was able to move again.  
"Take this you evil booger," cried Mike. He jumped on top of the Malboro and cut off a few of its eyes. The Malboro cried out in pain, and wrapped one of its tentacles around Mike.  
"Whoa! Put me down!!!" screamed Mike. The thief struggled in the death grip of the Malboro, but the more he squirmed, the harder the creature squeezed. Then an arrow flew out of nowhere, and sliced off the tentacle that was grasping Mike.  
"Told you that you couldn't handle anything," the hunter said with a smirk on his face. Then Mike threw a knife at Nick, and barely cut the side of his face.  
"What the heck was that for?!" said Nick in a panicked voice. "I just saved your life, and you thank me by throwing a knife at me?"  
  
"No, I just saved your life," said Mike, getting up and wiping slimy mucus from his arm from the Malboro. Nick turned around, and surely enough, there was the Ahriman on the ground, dead with a knife protruding from its eyeball.  
"Erh... right... thanks I guess," said Nick.  
"Whatever... hey, whatever happened to Leo Boy?" asked Mike.  
"You mean the mage?" whispered the Viera man. Nick and Mike looked up to see the Viera man floating in mid air, holding the limp body of a mage by the neck. "You know, its not very wise to totally forget one of your clan members while in a battle." The Viera man now had a very hungry look in his eyes, and his grin was now a malicious grin.  
"Let him go Imation!" cried Mike. "He has no use for you!"  
"Oh, but he does," whispered the Viera. "Under order of Master Sardes, I am to capture this boy."  
"Master who?" whipered Nick to Mike.  
"No clue," whispered Mike back. "Listen up here Imation! We'll fight you for him! If you win, you can take the boy AND our souls!" called Mike up to the Viera.  
"What the heck are you doing???" said Nick in a hushed voice. Mike just stopped him with a gesture of his hand.  
"And if we win, we get the boy and the soul you took from me! What do you say?" The thief remained calm, and if Nick had taken the time to look into his eyes, he would have seen that there was a blazing fire of confidence.  
"I accept your challenge," said the Viera. He let go of Leo from the air, and Nick dashed forward to catch him from the fifty foot drop. Imation pulled out a clear sphere that seemed to be made out of glass, but inside was a burning fire. But instead of throwing it into the air, the Viera held the sphere to his chest and closed his eyes as he floated down to the floor.  
"Tell me, have either of you fought a dragon?" whispered the Viera. His voiced seemed suddenly dangerous. "Because you're just about to figure out what it's like!" The sphere melted into the Viera's chest, and as he screamed in pain, he sprouted great, big, yellow, scaly wings. In seconds, the Viera had turned into a Thundrake. Nick and Mike's eyes widened in fear.  
"I never hunted that for him..." said Nick, awestruck.  
"Yeah, well, we're still gonna kill it!" said Mike in a savage voice. Mike ran around the dragon, and jumped over the long scaly tail that Imation swiped at him.  
"Puny humansss!!" the Thrndrake roared. "You can never beat me!" Mike scrambled up the back of the dragon, jumping from spike to spike along the dragon's back.  
"We'll see about that," said Nick. He strung an arrow, and aimed it at the sky. When he shot it, the arrow exploded in mid air, creating a giant dust cloud, making the room, if possible, even dustier. However, the explosion wasn't for nothing. A force came crashing out of the cloud of dust in the air, and crashed into the ground, creating a tremor, making the Thundrake lose its balance.  
"If that's all you can do, you're going to have to try better," bellowed the dragon.  
"Oh, that's not all," said Nick in a confident voice. "Imation, meet the Sonic Boom!" As if on cue, a gigantic black serpent crawled out from the hole created in the ground, covered in ancient markings in the color of red. "A little something I picked up while hunting for you sir. Too bad it's gonna eat you. Little Devil... get him..." The snake rose to its full heights, which matched that of the dragons. The snake locked its eye with Imation, and lunged for the dragon's ankle. However,the dragon was faster than the snake, and the dragon grabbed it and squeezed as hard as he could.  
"Ah, your silly hunting tricks won't hurt me," hissed the dragon.  
"But I'm sure this will!!!" screamed Mike! By this time, he had reached the head of the dragon. Mike took another jump and landed, stabbing another one of his daggers into the dragon's skull. The dragon roared in pain, and released the snake back into the pit.  
"Good job thief, now quick, get off!" cried Nick! She strung an arrow, and shot it into the air again. This time, a heavenly white cloud appeared, and opened up, as a great golden sword came crashing down to the dragon.  
"Imation, meet Mr. Sidewinder," Nick cried. The sword sliced through the air, and as Mike jumped off, the sword pierced through the dragon, and Imation fell dead. Nothing was left of the dragon's hide, except for a claw and a clouded sphere.  
"All right!" cheered Mike! "We beat him!"  
"Not bad for a thief," said Nick coolly. "We make a pretty good team, the three of us."  
"Yeah we do. Hey lets get this stuff and bring Leo Boy to the hospital in Muscadet," suggested Mike.  
"Yeah, sure thing." Nick picked up Leo, and Mike pocketed the sphere and the claw. Together, the three left the chocobo ranch.  
"By the way," said Mike. "Would you like to join our clan? Illegally of course." Mike couldn't help but grin, and Nick chuckled.  
"Sure, why not? It beats having to take care of these chocobos by myself." 


End file.
